Key Thinkers 10.3

Question 1

Thomas Hobbes

Answer 1

1588 - 1679
work influenced by the English Civil War
Leviathan, written 1651

Question 2

Thomas Hobbes Key Beliefs

Answer 2

order in society balances need for human freedom
humans = needy + vulnerable, require a societal structure
humans will be willing to give up some freedoms on exchange for security from a central state
order must be imposed to stop dangers of human imperfection
pessimistic view of human nature: if humans = without a secure state, they would be violent and disrespect private property
absolutism prevents anarchy BUT authority must be supported by consent of people

Question 3

Leviathan - message

Answer 3

to escape anarchy, humans enter a social contract
exchange individual rights/freedoms for sovereign protection
‘Leviathan’ can take on any forms as long as it possesses absolute authority necessary to create + keep order
Leviathan - enforce laws, maintain peace, protect people from threats

Question 4

Hobbes Quotes

Answer 4

‘state of nature’ [anarchy]
‘solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short’ [life without order of state]
‘the passions of men are commonly more potent than their reason’ [human imperfection]
‘humans are driven by a perpetual and ruthless desire for power’ [human nature]
‘war of all against all’ [without law + order]

Question 5

Edmund Burke

Answer 5

1729 - 1727
work influenced by the French Revolution
Reflections of the Revolution in France, 1790

Question 6

Edmund Burke Key Beliefs

Answer 6

paternalism - ruling elite obligation to the poor
change should be incremental and evolutionary, considering impact on present and future, while taking into account lessons from the past
empiricism - knowledge from lived experience
traditions must be respected
rejection of enlightenment liberalism - didn’t believe humans could destroy society and then create a new, fair system - human imperfection

Question 7

Reflections on the French Revolution - message

Answer 7

importance of tradition and human imperfection
the necessity of a social contract
knowledge must come from lived experience and not abstract theories
humans cannot create a new social order (as shown by the Terror)

Question 8

Burke Quotes

Answer 8

[social construct between] ‘those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born’
‘all men have equal rights but not to equal things’ [society]
‘a state without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation’
‘true natural aristocracy’ [hierarchy]
‘little platoons’ [organic society]
‘politics ought to be adjusted not to human reasonings but to human nature’

Question 9

Michael Oakeshott

Answer 9

1901 - 1990
Rationalism in Politics, 1962
On Human Conduct, 1975

Question 10

Michael Oakeshott Key Beliefs

Answer 10

human imperfection, specifically intellectual imperfection
belief that political ideas are too complex for humans to grasp
pragmatism - change must be based on empirical evidence, and tradition must be accepted as it has been shown to work

Question 11

Rationalism in Politics & On Human Conduct message

Answer 11

implementing abstract ideas will lead to unexpected consequences
the state should be maintained but not overhauled
more state intervention - negative consequences

Question 12

Oakeshott Quotes

Answer 12

‘fallible but not terrible’ [on human imperfection]
‘prevent the bad rather than create the good’ [state]
‘to prefer the familiar to the unknown, to prefer the tried to the untried’
‘the actual to the possible’
‘the politics of scepticism’

Question 13

Robert Nozick

Answer 13

1938 - 2002
Anarchy, State and Utopia, 1974

Question 14

Robert Nozick Key Beliefs

Answer 14

libertarianism; individuals cannot be used as a resource against their own will
self ownership - people own their own bodies, labour, and abilities
belief in individual freedom - humans are not imperfect but rather rational
some formal authority is needed to enforce law and order, but a growth of government is a threat to the freedom of individuals
disagrees with state intervention of justice - believed resources would be given to groups which help parties (eg pensions)

Question 15

Anarchy, State and Utopia message

Answer 15

disagrees with welfare state, desire of incredibly limited state intervention
total free market capitalism = most ideal
if the state controlled individuals, humans would be reduced to just working for a common goal
self ownership is a vital part of being human

Question 16

Nozick Quotes

Answer 16

‘pack animals’
‘the state’s claim to legitimacy induces its citizens to believe they have some duty to obey its edict, pay its taxes, fight its battles and so on’
[welfare state] ‘enrich some persons at the expense of others’
‘there are only individual people, different individual people, with their own lives’
‘taxation of earnings is on par with forced labour’
‘legalised theft’ [taxes]

Question 17

Ayn Rand

Answer 17

1905 - 1982
Atlas Shrugged, 1957
The Virtue of Selfishness, 1964

Question 18

Ayn Rand Key Beliefs

Answer 18

objectivism - humans are rational, and acting in self interest is rational
atomism - individuals acting in self interest make up society
we gain objective knowledge via logic and reasoning
individual rights > society as a whole
very little government intervention in a free market, capitalist society

Question 19

The Virtue of Selfishness & Atlas Shrugged message

Answer 19

altruism is immoral
takes a rational and moral egoistical stance
human nature is rational and there will not be a collapse of the state with individual freedom

Question 20

Rand Quotes

Answer 20

‘man must be the beneficiary of his own actions’
‘virtue of selfishness’ [to help society function properly]